Personal Computer Tutor
Personal Computer Tutor November 2007

Hi ,

Do you remember your first computer?  The wonder you felt at this marvelous machine.  The things you could do with it.  The places it could take you.  How would you like to give this gift to a child in the developing world?  Through a non-profit called One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) you can.  And beginning November 12, for 15 days, you can give one computer to a child in the developing world and get one for a child, a parent or grandparent you know for $399?  I was thinking that if you know an adult who has never had a computer and is reluctant to get one that this laptop may be a good introduction to computers.  Click here to learn more about Give 1 Get 1 starting November 12. 
 
(Note: This computer only uses wireless to get on the Internet (see the funny ears that act as an antenna) so anyone using it here in this country would have to have DSL or Cable modem with a wireless router (or find a wireless network at an Internet cafe, hotel, airport,  etc.).
 
Give 1 Get 1
 
One Laptop Per Child in the brain child of Nicholas Negroponte.  You may have heard of the $100 laptop (it is actually now $200) in the news.  His mission is to provide every child in the world with a laptop computer.  The following information is from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) website.

Galadima is a hamlet in Abuja, Nigeria

Mission

Most of the nearly two-billion children in the developing world are inadequately educated, or receive no education at all. One in three does not complete the fifth grade.

The individual and societal consequences of this chronic global crisis are profound. Children are consigned to poverty and isolation-just like their parents-never knowing what the light of learning could mean in their lives. At the same time, their governments struggle to compete in a rapidly evolving, global information economy, hobbled by a vast and increasingly urban underclass that cannot support itself, much less contribute to the commonweal, because it lacks the tools to do so.

Porto Alegre is the captial city of Rio Grande do Sul, BrazilChildren

The laptop gives learners opportunities they have not had before. Tools such as a Web browser, rich media player, and e-book reader bring into reach domains of knowledge that are otherwise difficult-or impossible-for children to access.

The laptop helps children build upon their active interest in the world around them to engage with powerful ideas. Tools for writing, composing, simulating, expressing, constructing, designing, modeling, imagining, creating, critiquing, debugging, and collaborating enable children to become positive, contributing members of their communities.

The laptop takes learners beyond instruction. They are actively engaged in a process of learning through doing. Children also learn by teaching, actively assisting other learners.

The laptop not only delivers the world to children, but also brings the best practices of children and their teachers to the world. Each school represents a learning hub; a node in a globally shared resource for learning.


Samkha is a rural village in northern ThailandHardware

The XO is a potent learning tool created expressly for the world's poorest children, living in its most remote environments. The laptop was designed collaboratively by experts from both academia and industry, bringing to bear both extraordinary talent and many decades of collective field experience for every aspect of this nonprofit humanitarian project. The result is a unique harmony of form and function; a flexible, ultra-low-cost, power-efficient, responsive, and durable machine with which nations of the emerging world can leapfrog decades of development-immediately transforming the content and quality of their children's learning.
 
 
Nicholas Negroponte

Nicholas Negroponte is founder and chairman of the One Laptop Per Child non-profit association. He is currently on leave from MIT, where he was co-founder and director of the MIT Media Laboratory, and the Jerome B. Wiesner Professor of Media Technology. A graduate of MIT, Negroponte was a pioneer in the field of computer-aided design, and has been a member of the MIT faculty since 1966. Conceived in 1980, the Media Laboratory opened its doors in 1985. He is also author of the 1995 best seller, Being Digital, which has been translated into more than 40 languages. In the private sector, Nicholas Negroponte serves on the board of directors for Motorola, Inc. and as general partner in a venture capital firm specializing in digital technologies for information and entertainment. He has provided start-up funds for more than 40 companies, including Wired magazine.

Nicholas Negroponte lays out the details of his nonprofit One Laptop Per Child project in this TED Talk. Speaking just days after relinquishing his post as director of the MIT Media Lab, he announces that he'll pursue this venture for the rest of his life. He takes us inside the strategy for building the "$100 laptop," and explains why and how the project plans to launch "at scale," with millions of units distributed in the first seven countries. "This is not a laptop project; it's an education project," he says.
 
 
Thank you for participating in Give One Get One. Your donation will bring education and enlightenment to children of the developing world, and, in recognition of your gift, you will be receiving an XO laptop for the child in your life as well. If you have any questions or problems, please contact One Laptop Per Child at [email protected]. Should your employer wish to match your donation, we are a 501(c)(3) organization and our EIN# is 20-5471780. Thanks again, and welcome to the One Laptop Per Child community!
 
Technology Tip Of The Month: ICE = In Case of Emergency
 
Cell PhoneWe all carry our mobile phones with names & numbers stored in its memory but nobody, other than ourselves, knows which of these numbers belong to our closest family or friends.
 
If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending us would have our mobile phone but wouldn't know who to call. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency?  Hence this 'ICE' (In Case of Emergency) Campaign.
 
The concept of 'ICE' is catching on quickly. It is a method of contact during emergency situations.  As cell phones are carried by the majority of the population, all you need to do is store the number of a contact person or persons who should be contacted during emergency under the name 'ICE' ( In Case Of Emergency).
 
The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when he went to the scenes of accidents, there were always mobile phones with patients, but they didn't know which number to call.  He therefore thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognized name for this purpose.  In an emergency situation, Emergency Service personnel and hospital Staff would be able to quickly contact the right person by simply dialing the number you have stored as 'ICE.'
 
For more than one contact name simply enter ICE1, ICE2 and ICE3 etc. A great idea that will make a difference! Let's spread the concept of ICE by storing an ICE number in our Mobile phones today!
 
Personal Computer Tutor
Claude Kerno
719.527.4317
[email protected] - www.pctutor.com